Dr Namrata Goswami – Guest Editorial

As I walked towards Uluru in 2009, an old Pitjantjatjara tribe elder requested me not to climb the rock and explained why. As he was recounting how his ancestral spirit resided in the rock, we both heard loud shouts above us and as we looked up, we saw three climbers jumping in joy on the rock as a celebration of their success in reaching the summit. I could feel the silence from the aborigine elder and when he looked at me, I saw a tear of sheer dejection threatening to spill over his cheeks. And then as I was leaving to walk around Uluru determined to show respect to his ancestors, he called out to me and said, “Perhaps the world is for those who have power and might”. And I replied, “only if you let them break your spirit”.

Dr. Namrata Goswamiis one of the foremost Indian thinkers on long-term global trends, emerging security challenges, and scenario building. Dr. Goswami is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi where she specializes on ethnic conflicts, insurgency, counter-insurgency and conflict resolution. She also has an interest in international relations theory and Great Power behavior. She has been a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the Congressionally Funded United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington DC, where she explored long-term India-China-US scenarios in order to craft sustainable security frameworks to enable unimpeded human development and security. She was co-lead and editor of two IDSA sponsored works on long-term trends,Imagining Asia in 2030, and Asia 2030 The Unfolding Future.

Her latest book published by Routledge, London and New York, 2015 is on Indian National Security and Counterinsurgency: The Use of Force Vs. Non Violent Responsein which she explores the contrasting influence of Kautilya, India’s classical realist thinker vis-a-vis Gandhi’s prohibition on a violent response. In 2012-2013, Dr, Goswami received the Fulbright-Nehru Senior Fellowship supporting her work on China-India border. She also received the “Executive Leadership Certificate” sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the National Defense University, Washington DC, and the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii in 2013. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, the La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia and the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Goswami is part of a renowned group of international experts exploring emerging security challenges such as 3-D printing, human self-modification and longevity, trans-national insurgencies, combating violent extremism, hybrid war and asteroid threats in the NATO sponsored “Partnership for Peace Consortium”. Her philosophy for life is one of the immortal quotes of Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.

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